Guard rail assembly for a platform

ABSTRACT

A guard rail assembly for a platform in which said platform is supported on a pair of struts interconnecting a pair of leg frames. A plurality of plates are removably mounted on said struts and each is provided with an upwardly open socket. A plurality of posts are received in said sockets and project upwardly therefrom. Said posts are interconnected by a plurality of guard rails.

United States Patent Reggie [451 July 11, 1972 [54] GUARD RAIL ASSEMBLYFOR A PLATFORM [72] Inventor: William Clark Reggie, Indianapolis, Ind.[73] Assignee: Baker-Roos, Inc., Indianapolis, Ind.

[22] Filed: May 3, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 139,616

[52] U.S.Cl ..l82/113, 182/119 [51] Int. Cl ..E04g 1/26 [58]FieldofSearch ..l82/ll9,l13, 179,178

[ 56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,226,359 12/1940 Spencer..l82/l13 3,071,206 1/1963 Kristen ..l82/119 Primary Examiner-ReinaldoP. Machado Attorney-Trask, Jenkins & Hanley [57] ABSTRACT A guard railassembly for a platform in which said platform is supported on a pair ofstruts interconnecting a pair of leg frames. A plurality of plates areremovably mounted on said struts and each is provided with an upwardlyopen socket. A plurality of posts are received in said sockets andproject upwardly therefrom. Said posts are interconnected by a pluralityof guard rails.

4 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures P'A'TENTEnJuL 1 1 I972 3, 675. 736

INVENT WILLIAM CLARK GIE Y m, M164 ATTORNE S GUARD RAIL ASSEMBLY FOR APLATFORM BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Platform scaffolding is known inthe art as evidenced by U. S. Pat. No. 2,593,122. Such scaffoldingemploys pluralities of vertically extruding ladder-type leg frames whichare interconnected by horizontally oriented, vertically spaced, sets ofIongitudinally extending struts. In addition to interconnecting the legframes, said struts are constructed to support a work platform.

In mounted guard rail assemblies on such scaffolding, it has heretoforebeen the convention practice to mount the guard rail supporting posts onthe upper ends of the uppermost leg frames. However, since the platformmay be disposed at different distances below the upper ends of the legframes, this has frequently caused the guard rails to be disposed inhorizontal planes either too close to or too far above the plane of theplatform with the result that said guard rails have been renderedineffective as safety devices.

It is therefore the object of this invention to provide a guard railsassembly which can be employed in combination with conventional platformscaffolding, which can be easily mounted thereon, and which alwaysdisposes the guard rails at an effective predetermined height above theplatform.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the invention, there isprovided a guard rail assembly for use with a platform assembly. Theplatform assembly includes a plurality of struts mounted on a pluralityof vertically extending legs. Each of said struts comprises a webinterconnecting laterally projecting upper and lower anns each having anupwardly projecting finger at its outer end. A work platform issupported on the upper faces of said upper arms.

The guard assembly comprises a plurality of plates carried on the lowerarms of said struts between their webs and the fingers on their lowerarms. Fasteners removably interconnect the plates and webs. A socket ismounted on each of the plates and is engageable with the outer faces ofsaid fingers. A plurality DESCRIPTION posts are received in said socketsand project upwardly therefrom. Said posts are interconnected above theplane of the platform by a plurality of guard rails.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings illustratethe invention. In such drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a platform scaffold having a guard railassembly embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary side elevation of a comer of thescaffold shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a vertical section taken on the line 33 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a vertical section taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In the illustratedembodiment of the invention, the scaffold is formed from a pair ofladder-type leg frames each comrising a pair of legs 12 interconnectedby cross rungs 13. The frames 10 are interconnected by pairs oflongitudinally extending vertically spaced struts 15. As shown, each ofsaid struts is provided at its ends with vertically extending mounts 17which embrace the legs 12 at one side of the scaffold. A lock 18 ismounted on each of the mounts 17 for selective reception in a pluralityof vertically spaced holes 18 formed in the legs 12 for mounting thestruts in the desired vertical position of the frames 10. In theembodiment illustrated, two pairs of vertically stacked pairs of the legframes 10 are employed in association with two sets of struts 15. Asshown, a work platform 20 is supported on the uppermost pair of struts15; with the lower pair of struts 15 serving as cross braces for thelower pair of leg frames l0.

The struts 15 are identical in construction. As best illustrated FIGS.2-3, each of said struts comprises a vertically extending web 22interconnecting upper and lower laterally projecting amts 23 and 24.Vertically aligned fingers 25 and 26 project upwardly from the arms 23and 24, respectively, with the upper end of finger 26 terminating wellbelow the arm 23. As shown in FIG. 3, the lateral edges of the platform20 are supported on the upper face of the arms 23 with said platformbeing maintained in a longitudinally centered position between thestruts 15 by the fingers 25.

In order to support a guard rail assembly around the platform 20, aplurality of end plates 30 are mounted on the pair of platformsupporting struts adjacent the ends thereof. The plates 30 are identicalin construction, and as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, each comprises ahorizontally extending leg 32 which rests upon the upper face of the arm24 with its inner end abutting the outer face of the web 22. The leg 32is integral with an upwardly projecting leg 33 whose lower portion abutsthe finger 26 and whose upper end terminates below the arm 23. As shown,the leg 33 has a height less than the distance between the arms 23 and24 and greater than the distance between the fingers 25 and 26. Theplate 30 is held in a fixed position with respect to the strut 15 by abolt 35 projecting through aligned openings 36 and 37 in the plate leg33 and strut web 22 and received in a nut 38.

A vertically extending, upwardly open socket 40 is mounted on each ofthe plates 30. The lower end of the socket is closed by an end cap 42conveniently provided with a drain hole 43. The socket 40 is connectedto its respective plate 30 by a weld 44 of sufficient thickness suchthat when the end plate is mounted on the strut 15, the socket 40 willbe disposed in abutting engagement with the outwardly presented faces ofthe adjacent fingers 25 and 26.

Each of the sockets 40, which projects above and below the horizontalextent of the strut to which it is connected, is adapted to receive apost 45 slidably received in said socket with its lower end resting onthe end cap 42. The posts 45 project well above the platfonn 20 and areinterconnected adjacent their upper ends by longitudinally andtransversely extending guard rails 48. Thus, with the guard railassembly being mounted on the pair of struts supporting the platform 20,the guard rails 48 will always be disposed at an effective height abovethe plane of the platform 20 to achieve maximum safety irrespective ofthe vertical positioning of said struts and platform on the leg frames10.

As will be apparent from the foregoing description, the guard railassembly can be easily removed from the scaffolding by first raising theguard rails 48 to slide the posts 45 upwardly out of the sockets 40. Thesockets 40 and end plates 30 can then be removed by removing the bolts35 whereupon the end plates can be tilted outwardly and lifted out oftheir nested positions on the struts 15. To remount the guard railassembly, it is merely necessary to reverse the procedure.

I claim:

1. In combination with a platform supporting assembly in which aplatform is supported on a pair of interconnected struts mounted onsupporting means, each of said struts having a web interconnectinglaterally projecting upper and lower arms, vertically aligned fingersprojecting upwardly from the ends of said arms remote from said web; aguard rail assembly comprising a plurality of plates carried on saidstruts between said web and the finger on said lower arm, fasteningmeans on each of said plates adapted to be connected to said web, asocket mounted on each of said plates for engagement with said fingers,a post received in each of said sockets, and a plurality of guard railsinterconnecting said posts.

2. The invention as set forth in claim 1 in which each of said platescomprises a vertically extending leg engagable with the inner face ofthe finger on said lower arm, and a horizontally extending leg connectedto said vertical leg and engagable with the upwardly and outwardlypresented faces, respectively, of said lower arm and web.

tally extending leg connected to said vertical leg and engaga; ble withthe upwardly and outwardly presented faces, respectively, of said lowerarm and web, and said fastening means comprises a bolt extending throughaligned openings in said vertical leg and web for reception in a nut.

I l I

1. In combination with a platform supporting assembly in which aplatform is supported on a pair of interconnected struts mounted onsupporting means, each of said struts having a web interconnectingLaterally projecting upper and lower arms, vertically aligned fingersprojecting upwardly from the ends of said arms remote from said web; aguard rail assembly comprising a plurality of plates carried on saidstruts between said web and the finger on said lower arm, fasteningmeans on each of said plates adapted to be connected to said web, asocket mounted on each of said plates for engagement with said fingers,a post received in each of said sockets, and a plurality of guard railsinterconnecting said posts.
 2. The invention as set forth in claim 1 inwhich each of said plates comprises a vertically extending legengageable with the inner face of the finger on said lower arm, and ahorizontally extending leg connected to said vertical leg and engagablewith the upwardly and outwardly presented faces, respectively, of saidlower arm and web.
 3. The invention as set forth in claim 1 in whichsaid plate has a vertical extent less than the distance between saidupper and lower arms and said socket has a vertical extent greater thansaid distance.
 4. The invention as set forth in claim 1 in which each ofsaid plates comprises a vertically extending leg engagement with theinner face of the finger on said lower arm and a horizontally extendingleg connected to said vertical leg and engageable with the upwardly andoutwardly presented faces, respectively, of said lower arm and web, andsaid fastening means comprises a bolt extending through aligned openingsin said vertical leg and web for reception in a nut.